Wealth 'begins at £134,170 a year'

With taxation an issue in this general election campaign, just how much do you have to earn to be considered wealthy in the UK nowadays?

Well, according to new research by consultancy Britain Thinks and job site Indeed, it’s £134,170 a year.

The figure is nearly five times the national average wage of £28,000.

But that average conceals huge generational and regional differences, with younger people likely to believe wealth starts at lower pay levels.

Just under 60% of young people believe that richness kicks in at £80,000 a year, while only 35% of those aged 65 and over would agree.

Overall, 44% of UK workers consider that a person earning £80,000 is wealthy.

Salary gap

Regional variations are also notable. In Wales, the average person considers an annual salary of £91,681 to be the point at which wealth begins.

But in south east England, you’d have to be earning £162,844 to be seen as rich, 78% more than in Wales.

“The labour market is creating jobs at a steady rate and unemployment is at its lowest level for more than four decades,” said Mariano Mamertino, an economist at Indeed.

“But wages have stagnated and British output per worker continues to languish below international trends and far behind that of many other European countries. The gap between earning the UK average wage of £28,000 and earning £80,000 will feel hard to bridge for many.”